January 17, 2020 I am working with a small team of national experts from the Bureau of Justice Assistance Body-Worn Camera Training and Technical Assistance Team to assist the City of Nashville to successfully implement their stalled program. I am looking forward to facilitating constructive discussions within city government and lead the problem solving effort. https://fox17.com/news/local/national-police-body-camera-experts-to-visit-nashville

August 20, 2016 The Louisville Police Department is being criticized for its lack of oversight in conducting "regular, random audits" as required department policy. The article states that the department "isn't keeping track of how the cameras are used." Compliance auditing is an essential program and risk management function. I recently wrote the first part of a series on BWC risk management and use of force for In View on the Body-Worn Camera Training and Technical Assistan

May 8, 2016 Interesting article in today’s Columbus Post: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/05/08/columbus-needs-to-navigate-common-police-body-camera-issues.html While some of the information in this article is outdated or misinterpreted, it does highlight a very critical aspect of any body-worn camera program and that is policy compliance. It’s not enough to just be specific about activations and deactivations in policy. The policy must be enforced. It is i

April 30, 2016 Body-Worn Cameras are changing the face of policing in America. Almost every police agency in the country has either deployed them, is in the process of deploying them or is exploring their feasibility. What role do they play in what are arguably the most high risk – high liability operations conducted by a police department? Should they be standard issue? When are they activated? Do the activities they record reveal operational sensitive information? What happ

April 24, 2016 I recently had the opportunity to co-host a workshop on Body-Worn Cameras and Use of Force at the 2016 BJA Body-Worn Camera Training and Technical Assistance National Meeting, April 18-19, hosted by CNA Analysis & Solutions in Washington DC. This was a gathering of all the 72 agencies from around the country that had been awarded funding the 2016 BJA BWC Pilot Implementation Program Grant. I spoke about the implications of BWCs on use of force and how an agency

April 4, 2016 Great article by Professor Seth Stoughton, Assistant Professor at University of South Carolina School of Law, on what body-worn cameras can really “see”. The most impactful excerpt: This confirms what Professor Stoughton has found in his own presentations with judges, lawyers and students: What we see in police video footage tends to be shaped by what we already believe. “Our interpretation of video is just as subject to cognitive biases as our interpretation of

March 27, 2016 Reporters from The Chicago Tribune recently spent a couple of days with The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to observe changes the department had made in recent years to its use of force policy and training. The focus of the story was on de-escalation training, transparency, and accountability, and how the same changes could be applied in the Chicago Police Department. They took an in-depth look at how body-worn cameras play an important role in the pr

January 9, 2016 What do Montgomery County MD, Pullman, WA, Newark DE, and Fredericksburg VA, all have in common? They are county and city locations where body-worn cameras (BWCs) are being used, or planning to be used, on public employees that aren’t county or municipal police officers. From schools and university personnel to code enforcement, parking enforcement, emergency medical services and fire marshals, there is a growing trend to place BWCs on any public employee tha

November 26, 2015 Please take a minute to read this article concerning body-worn cameras and the 6th Amendment where a state judge refused to allow body-worn camera (BWC) video be admitted as evidence. This is the latest of a number of court cases from around the country where a BWC recording has not been allowed when the victim failed to appear or the wearing officer failed to document the names of all “accusers” captured on video. The impact of this and other rulings clearl

November 24, 2015 Sgt. Evel Kiez shows off the personal video cameras police will be wearing in Calgary, Alberta, on August 19, 2013. Mike Drew/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY Please take a minute to read this story from the Calgary Sun on November 22, 2015. Officers at the scene of an OIS did not have time to activate their body-worn cameras (BWC) and did not record the shooting. Officers should never sacrifice officer safety to in order to activate a BWC. Clear policy on what type

November 14, 2015 This YouTube video was recently posted on the Law Enforcement and Security Consulting Group of LinkedIn. This type of social media posting is becoming all too common. 25K+ hits on YouTube. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the vast majority of them came before the Chief was able to address the incident in the media. There was, undoubtedly, a rush to judgment on the part of many YouTube viewers because they didn’t know the details and saw it only from the

September 16, 2015 I recently had the privilege of being asked to sit on a panel discussion about the future of Video Content Analytics (VCA) and body-worn cameras with Mr. Steve Ward, the CEO of VIEVU and Steve Russo, Director, Public Safety Solutions, for IBM . This is an area that holds great future promise for law enforcement information gathering. The ability to analyze large amounts of video data on a very timely basis could be the key to prevention at all levels of t

August 29, 2015 A recent article in the International Business Times entitled “What Happens When Police Turn Off Their Body Cameras” by Eric Markowitz, discusses the implications when an officer, either intentionally or unintentionally, fails to activate their body-worn camera. Any agency that has deployed, or is planning to deploy, body-worn cameras must clearly address both of these circumstances in their operational and/or disciplinary policies. Any policy without policy

August 10, 2015 Please take a minute to read this policy debate from the Urban Institute. It reinforces many of the issues that are rapidly approaching, and in some cases already arrived, with the implementation of body-worn cameras.

August 7, 2015 There was a recent article published in Politico New York that attributes a comment to Mr. Philip Eure, the Department of Investigation’s Inspector General for NYPD, regarding review of body camera footage by an officer involved in a shooting. The article states that Mr. Eure said a pre-viewing statement enables investigators to test not the officer’s memory, but rather his or her integrity. In “Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and L